{"id":2830,"date":"2013-04-01T07:20:50","date_gmt":"2013-04-01T11:20:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=2830"},"modified":"2013-04-01T07:20:50","modified_gmt":"2013-04-01T11:20:50","slug":"npr-maybe-we-should-retire-the-word-retire","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=2830","title":{"rendered":"NPR: Maybe We Should Retire The Word ‘Retire’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"images-2\"<\/a>Retirement ads are everywhere these days. The Villages\u00a0lures retirees<\/a>\u00a0to come live, love and golf in Florida. USAA\u00a0offers financial counsel<\/a>\u00a0to retiring military personnel. Hollywood stars such as\u00a0Pat Boone<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Tommy Lee Jones<\/a>\u00a0dole out all kinds of retirement advice in 30-second sermonettes on television and the Internet.<\/p>\n

“Thousands of seniors have turned to One Reverse Mortgage to take control of their retirement,” intones Henry “The Fonz” Winkler in\u00a0one earnest spot<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Old actors don’t retire; they just make retirement ads.<\/p>\n

But the more talk there is of retirement \u2014 on TV, in pop-up ads, in news stories \u2014 the more you begin to wonder: What is retirement anymore anyway?<\/p>\n

(More: Read Entire Article at NPR)<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Backyard Hammocks<\/strong><\/p>\n

Time was, the official portrait of a retired American included a steady, dependable pension; leisurely mornings puttering about the house in soft slippers \u2014 maybe replacing the chain on the toilet tank ball or knitting a doorknob cozy; slow-driving from drug store to grocery to TV repair shop \u2014 back when TVs could be repaired. Afternoons were for penning letters to faraway friends and checking on the backyard hammock hooks.<\/p>\n

Oh sure, there was plenty to do \u2014 foursomes of bridge and long weekend fishing trips. Perhaps for the more privileged \u2014 a beach house, a houseboat, that long-delayed trip to Mexico City.<\/p>\n

No mas.<\/p>\n

“I think the word ‘retired’ needs to be retired,” says financial writer Kerry Hannon in her 2012 book,\u00a0Great Jobs for Everyone 50+.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Baby boomers are either continuing to work much longer or approaching work not as an afterthought, but as a pillar of their retirement plans,” Hannon says, “as oxymoronic as that sounds.”<\/p>\n

Many older people are continuing to work \u2014 some out of choice, some out of necessity. “Unlike many of our parents,” says Hannon, “most of us don’t have pensions to fall back on to fund not-working for a decade or more.”<\/p>\n

She notes a few statistics: Between 2010 and 2020, people ages 55 and older are projected to be the fastest-growing segment of the U.S. labor force, according to the\u00a02012\u20132013 Occupational Outlook Handbook,\u00a0<\/em>a\u00a0<\/em>jobs forecast by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. And, according to\u00a0recent findings<\/a>\u00a0by the Employee Benefit Research Institute, more and more workers say they are planning to delay retirement.<\/p>\n

“Today’s 60-year-old might reasonably plan to work at least part-time for another 15 years,” Hannon says. “That changes the entire definition of retirement today and what it really means. For many retirees, working in retirement is quickly becoming a new stage in career progression.”<\/p>\n

Doesn’t the phrase “working in retirement” render the very notion of retirement \u2014 and the word \u2014 obsolete?<\/p>\n

CONTINUED….<\/strong><\/p>\n

READ FULL STORY AT NPR<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

by\u00a0LINTON WEEKS<\/a><\/p>\n

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